According to the Bristol Herald-Courier, a corporate restructuring and the promise of a new drug helped King Pharmaceuticals Inc. triple its quarterly earnings compared to a year ago.

The company had a net income of $84.7 million for this year's third quarter – from June 1 to Sept. 30 – according to an earnings report released Thursday. King reported a net loss of $40.5 million during the third quarter of 2007.

"The third quarter of this year was a really solid quarter for us," King spokesman James Green said Thursday in a phone interview.

Headquartered in Bristol, Tenn., King employs more than 2,000 people at its plants in Bristol and five other states.

Green said last year's loss was due to a U.S. Court of Appeals decision overturning King's patent for Altace, one of King's best known medications. That ruling allowed the market entry of generic substitutes for the drug, the company said in a written statement announcing the earnings report.